Related Stories

Kemptville College will be home to a French Catholic school starting next September.

The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est (CECCE) on Wednesday announced it will offer Junior Kindergarten through Grade 9 education at a pavilion of École élémentaire catholique Sainte-Marguerite-Bourgeoys, to be located at Kemptville College.

Sainte-Marguerite-Bourgeoys is the French Catholic board's current school in Merrickville.

Parents there will have the choice of continuing to send their children to the Merrickville school or the new site in Kemptville, the board announced.

The CECCE also operates Académie catholique Ange-Gabriel in Brockville.

The news comes as the community struggles to redefine the role of Kemptville College following the University of Guelph's decision to close its operations there.

“This is a great day for the future of Kemptville College,” North Grenville Mayor David Gordon said in a media release.

“Having a new French Catholic school in North Grenville, utilizing the amazing assets at Kemptville College fits perfectly with the vision we have for the future of Kemptville College.”

“This is just the beginning of the announcements we hope to make in coming weeks and months,” the mayor added.

CECCE officials noted the Kemptville community has been asking for a French Catholic school since 2012.

Higher grades will be added in 2017, 2018 and 2019, enabling the school to accommodate all K-12 students, the board statement added. It is also studying the possibility of adding an early childhood centre on campus.

In March 2014, the University of Guelph announced it would close its Kemptville campus. News of the school's closure sent shock waves through the community, where the Kemptville College of Agricultural Technology was established in 1917.

A working group has been exploring the feasibility of new models for delivering learning, training and instruction at the Kemptville campus.

In a French-language interview, CECCE spokesman Céline Bourbonnais said the new French school will not take up the entire former Kemptville College space.

“For now, we have two of the buildings that are on campus,” she said.

She could not point to an enrolment target for the pavilion, as it is unclear how many Merrickville area families will choose to send their children to the new location.

However, the Kemptville school will benefit from an area with a rapidly growing population.

“We anticipate a lot of growth,” said Bourbonnais.

In the media release, CECCE director of education Réjean Sirois said the Kemptville College site is the perfect place for the village's first French-language school.

“This project is more than just a school. It is in fact a community project that will revitalize the Kemptville College campus and help ensure the vitality of an institution that is so very important to the local economy,” he said.

Leeds-Grenville MPP Steve Clark also cheered the news in a prepared statement.

“It’s an exciting announcement which is going to improve the access to French Catholic education for families in my riding,” said Clark.